Tag Archive for 'coca cola'

Mexico’s Water War

Published on 02/23/2012 in bottled water, greenwashing, policy, products and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.petrecycling.com

“It isn’t just tourists who won’t drink the water in Mexico. It’s nearly everyone, making the country one of the most valuable markets in the world for beverage companies. Mexicans are the world’s biggest drinkers of soda, putting away 166 liters of the bubbly stuff per person in 2010, and of bottled water, chugging down 248 liters per capita in 2011, according to preliminary estimates from the Beverage ­Marketing Corp. The latter figure is more than double Americans’ annual consumption of 110 liters.

With growth in the soda segment flattening out, in part due to government antiobesity campaigns (soda sales have been banned in schools), the growth and competition are in water, where market leader Danone is fighting it out with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

“Soft drinks are no longer such a great business in Mexico,” says Ana Trulin, an analyst in Mexico City with Euromonitor. “Water is the big profitmaker.”

Analysts project Mexican bottled-water sales will grow to $13 billion by 2015, up from $9 billion in 2011, surpassing the U.S. to become the world’s largest market.”

Read more: Forbes

 

lily victoria

Can Coca-Cola Keep Growing?

Published on 02/09/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, bottled water, contaminated water, displacement of people, glaciers, greenwashing, groundwater, management, privatization and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Wikipedia

“Coca-Cola is a $156 billion nonalcoholic-beverage kingpin that sold more than $46 billion worth of drinks around the world in 2011. As if it needs underscoring, that’shuge. So when it comes to the future for Coca-Cola, is growth still possible?

“If you tuned into Coke’s fourth-quarter earnings release yesterday, you know that there was still growth to be had in the past year, at least. Comparable earnings per share — which adjusts the tally mainly for oddball adjustments from its bottler acquisition — increased 10% for the year to $3.84.

“There’s been no recession for Coke. In the chart below, you can see that earnings did dip in 2008, but when we consider the total earnings growth over the past five years, it’s clear that the Coca-Cola juggernaut is one that’s not easily knocked off course. 

anImageSource: S&P Capital IQ. 2010 earnings adjusted for gains from bottler acquisition. 

“If we break that total growth down to an average annual figure, we can say that Coke is still growing earnings at a clip of better than 11% per year. To deliver that kind of growth on a relatively consistent basis is no small matter no matter who you are, but it’s even more impressive when you’re a company the size of Coke.

“The company hasn’t been shy about deploying some of its ample cash flow to grow through acquisitions. Of note, in 2007 the company ponied up $4.2 billion to buy Vitaminwater maker Glaceau. More recently, the company took over the North American operations of bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises.”
Read more: Daily Finance
sammykayed

No Glee from Environmentalists for Coca-Cola “Plant Bottle”

Published on 04/24/2011 in bottled water, contaminated water and greenwashing. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Blog Spot

“Some California environmental groups got a last minute invite to an unusual spectacle taking place on Earth Day to launch Coke’s new “plant bottle” packaging for Coca-Cola brand “Dasani” bottled water. The invitation cheers the “exciting packaging advancement” that will allow Coca-Cola to bottle its plain old municipal water without the coke syrup in a bottle that is “made with up to 30 percent plants — and up to 30 percent less petroleum.”

“On behalf of environmentalists in the know about plastic packaging and bottled water, we send our Regrets, as follows:

“1. We Regret that while many areas of America face drought,  your bottling of municipal water uses three times as much water in the process of bottling it as the amount of water that came from the tap to fill the bottle.

“2. We Regret that despite your green leaf logo, your “plant bottle” is still just a PET plastic bottle and is not biodegradable or compostable on land or at sea.

“3. We Regret that Coca-Cola will not be collecting and recycling their own PET “plant bottles,” and that only approximately 28% of PET bottles are “recycled” (mostly into lower grade material that is not used in bottles again) in America. The remainder, at over 20 billion bottles, last forever in our landfills or in our environment, including our oceans. We also regret that Coca-Cola failed to achieve it’s own pledge of using at least 10% recycled content in PET bottles and has just announced the shut down of its PET recycling joint venture in South Carolina.

“4. We Regret that Coca-Cola is substituting its chemical-laden petroleum plastic bottle with a chemical-laden petroleum and plant plastic bottle.

“5. We Regret that estrogenic  compounds in your PET “plant bottles” may leach  into the water and impair human health and reproduction.”

Read more: Huffington Post

sammykayed

Coca-Cola’s response disappoints Plachimada activists

Published on 04/25/2010 in contaminated water, groundwater and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Accused of exploiting groundwater resources, the Coca Cola factory at Plachimada in Palakkad, Kerala, has been shut since 2004. Photo: C. Ratheesh kumar

“Activists who raised the issues of unethical groundwater use and pollution by Coca-Cola plants in India during the soft drinks giant’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Atlanta this week have expressed disappointment with the response of Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, accusing him of misleading investors about the problems the company had run into with regulators.

“Speaking to The Hindu, Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Centre — which campaigns for the rights of communities in the affected areas — said that he had brought up the recommendations made on March 22 by an High Power Committee (HPC) set up by the Kerala government, according to which Coca-Cola should be held liable for $48 million (Rs.216.26 crore) in “damages to the community and the environment around its bottling plant in Plachimada”.

“The company has also been involved in a controversy in Kala Dera in Rajasthan, where groundwater resources had been declared as “over-exploited” by the government in 1998. Yet, Coca-Cola built a new plant there in 2000, leading to severe water shortages in at least 40 villages in the vicinity of the plant, according to reports.”

read more: The Hindu

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